Annual poll finds more Canadians confident about their finances than year ago

Waterloo Region Record

TORONTO - It appears Canadians will be entering 2013 in a more positive mood about their finances than they were a year ago, a poll released Thursday suggests.

The Harris-Decima poll conducted for CIBC found that 70 per cent of those surveyed were feeling positive about their current financial situation — up six percentage points from a similar survey conducted in late 2011.

People who were 65 and older formed the most confident age group, at 73 per cent feeling positive about their current situation. Respondents aged 25 to 34 were the least satisfied group at 67 per cent.

The survey also found more people who reported confidence about their ability to reach their future financial goals.

The overall average was two percentage points higher than last year, rising to 74 per cent. There was little variation by age group, with all demographics reporting between 73 and 75 per cent.

Christina Kramer, a CIBC executive vice-president, said the survey suggests Canadians are more confident about reaching their long-term financial goals as they head into 2013.

“The next step is to turn that confidence into action by putting plans in place at the start of the year that will help you make progress towards the things that matter most to you,” Kramer said.

There was significant variation depending on the region, both in terms of satisfaction about current finance and confidence and attaining future goals.

Only 65 per cent of respondents in British Columbia and the Atlantic region said they felt positive about their financial situation when the poll was conducted. That was 10 percentage points below respondents in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and nine points below respondents in Ontario.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan also had the most confidence about meeting future financial goals, with 84 per cent giving positive responses. That was 20 points ahead of Quebec, the least confident region at 64 per cent.

This year’s telephone survey of about 2,000 adults across Canada was conducted between Oct. 25 and Nov. 4.

A sample of this size is considered to be accurate within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, on a national basis.

Regional results and other subsets of the national findings are less accurate because of the smaller sample size.